164 P. 457 | Okla. | 1917
This is an original application for a writ of certiorari for the purpose of reviewing the action of the county treasurer of Grady county, the county court of said county, and the district court of the Fifteenth district court judicial district, in the matter of a certain proceeding instituted on relation of the tax inquisitor of Grady county against the Chickasha Cotton Oil Company, in which *202
it was sought to assess as omitted property the capital, surplus, and undivided profits of said company at its principal place of business in Grady county, after it had rendered for taxation in the various other counties where located the greater portion of its tangible property in the manner prescribed by law for the assessing of the property of natural persons. After a full hearing, the county treasurer found that inasmuch as the Chickasha Cotton Oil Company had rendered and assessed its property located in the several counties of the state of Oklahoma for taxation, where located, for the years covered by the complaint of the tax inquisitor, the capital stock of said corporation being invested in such properties, the moneyed capital of such corporation was not subject to assessment in Grady county. Wherefore it was ordered and adjudged that these proceedings be, and the same thereby were, dismissed with prejudice. Thereafter, and in due time, the county of Grady, on behalf of itself and the state of Oklahoma, school district of Grady county No. 1, and the city of Chickasha, served notice of appeal upon the respondent. Whereupon the entire record before the county treasurer of Grady county was filed by the tax ferret in the county court of Grady county. Thereafter the Chickasha Cotton Oil Company moved the county court to dismiss these proceedings, for the reason that said court had no jurisdiction of the parties, and no jurisdiction of the subject-matter involved, which motion was sustained by the county court and an order entered dismissing said proceeding for want of jurisdiction. Proceedings for a writ of certiorari were then commenced in the Supreme Court wherein it was sought to review the proceedings and judgment of the county court, and also the proceedings of the county treasurer, which petition for a writ of certiorari was denied by this court on the 2d day of February, 1915, for want of proper parties defendant. State v. Chickasha Cotton Oil Co.,
As to the question involved in cause No. 7913, wherein the action of the district court is sought to be reviewed, it is sufficient to say that it has been settled beyond peradventure in this jurisdiction that neither the Supreme Court nor the district court has jurisdiction to review upon appeal or by petition in error an order or judgment of the county court made in a proceeding pending before said court upon appeal from the action of the county treasurer in proceedings instituted pursuant to the statutes governing the discovery of omitted taxable property. This for the reason, as stated by the court, that there is no statute which authorizes an appeal in such proceedings from the county court to any other court. Bd. County Com'rs of Kingfisher County v. Guaranty State Bank,
It is next contended on behalf of respondent that certiorari is not a proper remedy to compel a taxing officer to make an assessment or to review the correctness of a decision of an inferior court declining to take jurisdiction of the cause or proceeding. And this contention seems to be conceded by counsel for petitioner, unless this court overrules several of its former opinions, which, they say, are against the weight of authority. In Baker v. Newton,
"The common-law writ of certiorari as used in this jurisdiction brings up for review but one question, and that is whether the inferior tribunal or court kept within or exceeded the jurisdiction conferred upon it by law. It cannot be used to correct errors of law or fact committed by the inferior tribunal within the limits of its jurisdiction."
For the reasons stated, the writ is denied.
SHARP, C. J., and HARDY, TURNER, and THACKER, JJ., concur.